Oh, Wow!

Wow! I didn't realize it had been a year since I posted anything on my blog. Time slips away too quickly. This time of year at our house is usually very busy because it's basketball season. This basketball season has been overwhelming, to say the least. Hannah began her season in November, playing middle school and junior varsity. For the first few weeks of January, she had 4 or 5 games a week. This year we decided to let Alli play for the Rec. Department, since she will begin middle school ball next year. She is on a 10 and under team from her school. Then we discovered that there was an 8 and under team for boys from the school, so we switched Aaron to the Rec. Department as well. With each having a different schedule for games and practice, it has been a little bit of a circus. I have found myself, for the first time, having to depend a good bit on others (parents of team mates and friends gracious enough to help) to get my kids where they need to be. I have also had to accept the fact that I can't be at everyone's games. Take for instance our schedule this evening. Hannah has a game two hours away at 4:00. Aaron's game is at 5:30 south of town and Alli's is at 6:30 north of town. Hannah gets to ride the bus to the game and back. I will take Aaron to his and Kevin thankfully gets off at 6:00 and can take Alli to hers. She will have to spend about an hour at the ER waiting on her daddy. Oh, how I love to watch my kids play ball and I hate the fact that I won't get to see Hannah and Alli play tonight. But I will be with Aaron, who definitely needs some support from his basketball loving mama!

I love watching my kids grow and improve in all they do. Hannah's team had a great season. They were undefeated in their league and last Saturday they won their league tournament championship game by two points. Their defense and team work won the game for them. Hannah put up a lot of shots, but for some reason the ball just wasn't going in for her. It was the kind of game that makes this mama want to stand the whole game. Oh, it was so close. Hannah fell on the floor one time and didn't get up for several minutes. She fell hard on her hip. Of course, Kevin wasn't going to go check on her but I told him to go. He went out there and told her she hadn't broke anything, to get up! She got up, sat out for a minute or two and then went back in. It was a fight to the finish! I just wish I had a picture of a rebound Hannah made where she jumped really high to get it. I would love to show her how high she got off the floor! Amazing! Can't believe my girl is finishing middle school basketball and will be playing for the high school team next year.

That's my #24 for the Lady Lions!

So proud of these girls, playing for an audience of 1!

Alli and Aaron are improving as well. They are playing about two games a week. Alli is working on getting more aggressive and using her height to her advantage. I can't tell you how many times the word "rebound" has come out of mine and Kevin's mouths the last three weeks. I should just make a sign with the word on it! Aaron is working on these same things and he wants to score so bad. He needs a dose of confidence and I so want to see him looking at me in the stands with a big grin, knowing he has just scored a basket for his team. He came really close last week and he made some great assists. I love to see teamwork. It's a glorious thing! This year Hannah's team has worked so well together. I love to see my child make a goal, but I love it even more to see him/her work with a team mate by making a quick pass to them and letting them shoot.

Aaron is #24 in the navy.

Alli, #35, is the tallest on her team. She gets to jump for the ball!

Well, enough about basketball, because I could go on and on. I always hope every year that I am going to do better with this blogging thing, but it usually doesn't happen. My plan is for this blog to be more about pictures of the kids, so that our family and friends can keep up with what they are up to. I may occasionally share a story. I am praying about a personal blog for myself that I can share my journey with others. The past 13 months have had a lot of ups and downs. Thankfully, my God loves me and is with me through every trial. Makes me think of that childhood song, "He's Still Working on Me". I could think of so many things worse than being diagnosed with celiac disease; however, change is not easy. Dealing with depression is not fun. I know the Lord has brought me to a place where dependence on Him is the only thing that will get me through. So, we will see about the new blog. I set up one last year, but I never found myself ready to share. My purpose in life needs to be letting others see God's glory thru me. I always come back to this one verse that the Holy Spirit whispers to me on a daily basis. It's the verse that gave me the name for this blog. In 2 Corinthians chapter 2, Paul is talking about his thorn in the flesh in verses 7-10. The first part of verse 9 says, "And He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness."

Pictures of January Snow

Another Dose of Snowy Weather

Sunday night, January 9th at around 10:00 the snow began to fall. We woke up Monday morning and found around six inches of snow. It was so beautiful! Kevin has worked nights this week, so he was not able to make it home Monday morning. But on Tuesday morning, he was determined to make it home. As you can see in one of the pictures (in the next post), he turned into the driveway and that was as far as he made it. The kids have been out of school all week. Friday may be the only day they will get to go. You do not see Hannah in any of the pictures because she has been sick since Saturday evening. She has had a terrible sore throat and ear infection. She is feeling better, but still cannot hear well in her left ear. The last couple of days I have been getting my education on Star Wars with a movie marathon. It's been interesting learning to talk Star Wars with my boy! Monday was the Harry Potter movie marathon, so I finally told Aaron we would watch some Star Wars. I love to see him smile! Enjoy the pictures! I will post a few more in a new entry.

Christmas 2010

A White Christmas

A Little Chocolate and a Big Bridge

JA always finds neat places to stop for a quick photo. It's hard to tell, but it's two kissing sea lions. At this point we were on a desperate search for popcorn for JA. We had promised him we would find popcorn before we went back to the hotel.

The trip would not be complete without a stop at Ghirardelli Square. Yummo!

We are getting a closer look at the Golden Gate Bridge as we cross over for the first time. I am still wondering.......does the sun ever shine here?

A Few Pictures

Woo Hoo! I finally got a few pictures to upload. I guess it will only let me do three at a time. Today we have hung out at the house enjoying the fact we don't have to go anywhere or do anything. In the living room there is an 18 ft window seat and the two side windows can be opened where you can enjoy the cool breeze and hear the ocean waves. I claimed a spot on one end of the seat, opened the window, and read for a little while. I have been in a Bible study this summer about grace, so I started reading Chuck Swindoll's " The Grace Awakening: Believing in Grace is One Thing. Living it is Another. " The Lord is revealing a lot to me thru this book, and it has gone right along with Kay Arthur's study on grace. Maybe one day I will write a post concerning this subject. Well, Kevin is cooking dinner tonight. He's cooking Alli's favorite....fried eggs! It has been so wonderful having him with us! Due to circumstances at work, he has been away a good bit. Things always go a lot smoother when he's around. And since he's our international traveler, we were able to navigate the airport without a problem....what a zoo!

This picture was taken early Tuesday morning at the hotel where we left the car. We were waiting on the shuttle to take us to the airport. We got off to a later start than planned. We left the house almost 10 minutes later. We had to stop and get gas. One of the tires on the van was really low, so we searched for a gas station where the air pump actually worked. We made it on time with time to find breakfast.......Chikfila minis!

I enjoyed taking pictures while we were in the air. They weren't as clear as I thought they would be, but you can still see. This picture was taken when we were going over the Rocky mountains. One thing I really enjoyed on the plane was the map you could look at on the tv screen on the chair in front of you. It told us exactly where the plane was. At one point I think I actually saw the lake where Kevin took me to propose. Sounds crazy and I even woke him up to show him!

This picture is the view from the window with the 18ft window seat. It's just incredible! On the left is a river that is running into the ocean. Right now the fog is settling in for the night and I can't see the trees and beach that are in the top left hand quadrant of the picture. Enjoying this adventure with my crew!

It's Finally Time!

We started our little adventure early yesterday morning. Several of us were a little nervous about our first time flying. Last time I flew was in 1994, and since I am not real fond of heights, I was a little nervous, too. But once we were in the air, the kids decided they liked flying. Kevin was asleep before the plane even hit the runway for take off. I thought I would have fallen asleep, but apparently that only happens when you put me behind the steering wheel of my car. Maybe I didn't get sleepy because I was so busy looking out the window at all of God's creation below. It was so amazing to see how the landscape changed as we went further west. We went over a total of 11 states in about 4 and 1/2 hours. Our landing reminded me a lot of when I flew to Jamaica 16 years ago. As we were descending, there was a layer of clouds that looked like marshmallow fluff. You couldn't see anything below the plane. As we went below that layer of clouds, all you could see was water, no land. I have to admit I was a little nervous at that point, but amazingly we landed without a problem. While on the flight, I thought a lot about God's sovereignty and how He already knows the number of our days.



We arrived in San Francisco about 1:30 p.m. We spent the rest of the afternoon getting settled into our hotel room and then walking along Fisherman's Wharf enjoying Pier 39 and the Ferry Building. San Francisco has been really foggy and about 40 degrees cooler than home. The kids really enjoyed the afternoon despite the coolness. JA chased every pigeon he could find and Alli helped him. My oldest child is known for her dry humor and stating the facts as they are. As we are dodging pigeons, she says, "they are going to be arrested for harassing the pigeons!" JA would either be ahead of us chasing pigeons or lagging behind because he was getting tired. After returning from the Ferry Building we went thru the aquarium which is the smallest aquarium I have ever been in. I enjoyed the fact that it didn't take long and it wasn't crowded. We decided to see if we could get tickets for the Alcatraz tour, but as stated in all the travel books, "You need to book in advance!" They are booked thru next Wednesday, so I guess taking a picture of Alcatraz will be as close as we get. We went back to our room, rented movies and crashed for the night.



This morning we walked to Ghirardelli Square and got our first glimpse of the Golden Gate Bridge. Of course we had to buy a few pieces of chocolate even though Kevin claimed we could get it back home. I told him I didn't think our stores had some of the same flavors, so we had to have a few samples. We headed back to our car and began our journey to where we are now. Crossing the Golden Gate Bridge was awesome. It is so beautiful here. Our trip up Highway 1 was spectacular. Our God is truly amazing! Our first glimpse of the Pacific Ocean was incredible. I told Kevin we are getting the mountains and beach all in one. The view from where I am sitting is incredible, so peaceful. I am just trying to soak it all in!

After several attempts to upload pictures for this post, I am going to give up for the night and try again in the morning.

Time is Flying By Too Fast!

I am so often reminded how quickly time is passing. It's so hard to believe that H is 12, A is 9 and JA is 6. These are some of my favorite pictures I took of them right before they got out of school for summer. I love these kiddos!

Introducing......#32

Last Friday we found out that Hannah made the middle school basketball team. We are excited for her. She is really getting into it and enjoying it. She received her practice uniform yesterday, so I couldn't resist taking pictures and sharing the news. This momma is ready for some b-ball! Go # 32! More pictures to come later!

Halloween Weekend Fun

I decorated the back of Kevin's truck for Trunk or Treat at our church on Friday night. The kids had a blast at this event. They helped give out candy after they got done making their rounds. On Saturday night we went to a friend's house for dinner and a night of trick or treating in their neighborhood. Here are the characters I took with me.

Prince Caspian from Chronicles of Narnia...Isn't he handsome? He did have the armor to go with it. He carried the sword around but the other was too much.

Here she is! Lucy from "I Love Lucy!" (Fit her personality perfectly!) I think this costume was a hit!

Hannah joined in the fun also, but I think this is probably her last year to do so. She seems to have outgrown the costume phase. She went as Dr. Seuss' "Thing One". I think she just wanted her hair sprayed blue.

Hannah's friend, T, spent Saturday with us. Since Alli's costume for Lucy from Narnia didn't work out, I told T that she could be Susan from Chronicles of Narnia. She wore a Renaissance princess dress for her costume. It was a busy weekend, but filled with lots of fun!